Giant Steps & Innocent Bystander

We're not big wine lovers, and narrowed the tastings to pinot noir and chardonnay. Our first stop at Yarra Valley was a relatively young winery- Giant Steps and Innocent Bystander. We settled on a bottle of rather robust Tarraford Vineyard 2008 Pinot Noir to go with lunch.

Imho, the food is outstanding, along with its FABULOUS flat white, breads, cakes and desserts. Upon stepping in, I stood there like a little girl in fairyland, inhaling all the smells, listening to the sounds and bustle.

Hurrah for free and fast wifi at the winery! The man was totally in love with his chicken liver pate. He relished every last bit of it. There, there was the wonderfully done pumpkin pizza with barrel-aged feta, walnuts on top of a garlic base and finished with sage. There was pumpkin and red lentil dhaal, duck and mushroom pie with carrot mash. Ahhhhhh. We lingered over food, wine and coffee. That coffee. Wow. I had 2 cups of flat white.

I looked up and giggled- these signs are really cool. By the end of lunch, I was definitely in a food coma of sorts. Not on the wine because I controlled that strictly. The man was driving, so he was very disciplined and had just a glass of wine there. We took the bottle back to continue drinking in the suite. I had no breakfast, so the stomach was stuffed to the brim at lunch. It was probably a caffeine-induced coma.